[Koir]

Ooh, goodies! Questions!

Originally Posted by loveskyliemole

Hello everyone

Thank you for helping me everytime I come here.

I have a question, well actually some questions today
Can anyone help me?

1)
I will answer your questions.
I will answer to your questions.

Which one is right?

The first sentence is right.

2)
I've been learning how to play the guitar since I was 10 years old.
I started learning how to play the guitar when I was 10 years old.

Do these sound OK to you?

Both sound okay to me, as they both describe the same action (learning to play the guitar). They differ in where the speaker/writer wishes to place the emphasis in the statement.

The first statement emphasizes the length of time the speaker/writer has been learning to play the guitar. If the speaker is in his or her 30s the statement illustrates the length of time spent learning to play the guitar, in this case twenty years.

The second statement emphasizes the age at which the speaker/writer started to learn to play the guitar. As a result, less emphasis is placed on the length of time learning and more emphasis is placed on the starting age.

3)this sound very very silly...
but one of my friends was wondering and asked me to
ask you guys for a help!

Her question was...

"how Do you call a "tissue" properly?"

She means

There usually are 2 pieces of very thin tissue paper, making a pair... I mean the regular tissue paper!...do you know what I mean? I am sorry I don't know how to explain this...

We learnt stuff like these...
a piece of paper
a pair of shoes

What about the tissue!?
Do you call it "a piece of tissue paper"?
or they are always come in 2 pieces actually, so
should we say a pair of 2 pieces of tissue paper?

I usually say "Can I have a tissue?" but she says it's not right.

I know this is very silly, but please help her (actually help ME! cos she keeps asking me if I get the answer)

In this case, the way you ask is correct. "A tissue" is what is called in English grammar as a "collective noun". That means a singular form of the noun can represent a group of the same item.

Yes, one "tissue" is made up of two "layers" of tissue which can be easily pulled apart to form two single "tissues" but the usual form of the item is two (or more) layers pressed together to make one "tissue".

In natural English usage, a "tissue" is frequently referred to as a "Kleenex", which is an example of a name brand being used so often to describe the item that it replaces the "correct" English name of the item.

Have a good weekend

Mayumi

I shall try, Mayumi-san. Good to hear from you